this day that over Levites there must be Priests vnto Priests there belong Aulters vnto Aulters Sacrifice All which things yet in the old Testament were knowne to be but figuratiue shadowes yea head hornes and all and when he hath once gotten in though he may be as plainly seene according to the proverb as a mans nose of his face yet he so maintaineth the possession that he hath once gotten both by faire foule meanes by religious pretences and rigorous defences that it is allmost impossible to get him out againe As for example who seeth not in these our dayes at the least where the light of the Gospell doth shine the horrible abhominations of the vnpreaching ministery Non-residencies Pluralities Impropriations excōmunication for euery trifle the pompous and lordly estate of Bishops together with those rotten and beggerly Ceremonies which haue so long burdened troubled the Churches Nay Kinges and Princes are made beleeue that their state could not indure nor their Kingedome stand yea that heaven and earth would be confounded if these thinges should be reformed But alas it is lamentable to behold what curious carvers what trustie tasters are used in bodily meates how great care is taken that a moate fall not into our earthly cuppes But though the toe or foote of * A Toad a paddocke fall into the foode of our soules wee are not afraid to swallow it though we se it But let vs proceede in opening farther the thinges which were done in the Churches and the abuses that crept in shortly after Saint Iohns time vntill Antichrist his great whore of Babell came up to the toppe of their glorious dignitie Now Sathan having sowed his tares among the good corne which the holy Apostles had sowne which tares grew so fast in the hartes of many Sardian sleeping Angels that pride and ambition pricked them to be lifted vp aboue their fellowes And as many hundred yeares after Gregorie the Bishop of Rome himselfe said of Iohn Bishop of Constantinople In this pride of theirs what other thing is there betokened but that the time of Antichrist is even at hād For he followeth him saith Gregorie that despising the ioye of equalitie amonge the Angels labored to pearke up to the top of singularitie For they thought it a base thing not to be lifted vp aboue their fellow Pastors or Elders so that they procured by agreement and consent among themselues that some one among the rest in every assemblie should be called a Bishop where before that time all the preachers Pastors and Elders were generally called Bishops so that Bishope Pastor or Elder were Synonima wordes of one and the selfe same signification But now they agreed that one of them onely in every assemblie should be called a Bishop and he onely and singularly should be so termed wheras all the rest were so called before which injurious dealing with the rest of the Ministers went yet more forward namely as at the first agrement one only in every Congregation or assemblie should be called Bishop so this devise of Sathan with in a while grew so fast that onely one in every Dioces was so called and all the rest were called Ministers Elders and Pastors and not Bishops What injurie this was to all other Pastors Elders yea to the holy Ghost himselfe which gaue them all as well as to any one that reverent name of Bishop he that hath eyes in his head may easily see For as poore christians should haue great injurie if it should be made vnlawfull to call any man a Christian or a christian man but only a Prince a Lord or a Noble man so all the pore Pastors and Ministers haue great injurie that one Lord in a Citie or Dioces onely should be called Bishop seeing Gods owne word calleth all Pastors and Ministers of the word Bishops as well as all faithfull people Christians And thus within a while these Bishops did not only take to themselues the name wealth dignities which God forbiddeth them but they tooke from other such names wealth and dignities as God had appointed them Shewing themselues plainely disobedient to God and injurous towardes men and namely towardes their brethren and fellow servantes in one and the selfe same function appoynted by God And heere touching this matter take the wordes of M. Calvine that excellent and learned Divine upon the first chapter to Titus Porro locus hic abunde docet Calv in epist ad Tit. cap 1. 7. nullum esse Presbyteri et Episcopi discrimen c. Verum nomen officii quod Deus in commune omnibus dederat in vnum solum transferri reliquis spoliatis et iniurium est et absurdum Deniquc sic pervertere spiritus sancti linguam vt nobis eaedem voces aliud quam voluerit significent nimis profanae audaciae est This place of the Apostle to Titus saith M. Calvine doth very evidently teach that there is no difference betweene a Bishope and an Elder or Minister but the name of an office which God gaue to them all in common to transfer it onely to one among many of them spoyling or robbing the rest thereof is both injurious and absurd To conclude saith M. Calvine soe to pervert the tongue or language of the Holy Ghost that the same wordes or names should signifie an other thinge vnto vs then he would haue it It is a point of too prophane or heathenish bouldnes Heere-vnto I will add the wordes of M. Musculus in his Common Places being translated into English and dedicated vnto Parker Arch-Bishop of Cāterburie Musc Com. pla fol 166 in the dayes of Queene Elizabeth his wordes are these When that temptation of greatnes and superioritie gat once into the mindes of the Priests Pastors and Doctors then men began to chose some one of the Elders which should be set aboue the rest and advaunced vnto higher degree and be called a Bishop and thus he should onely and singularly be called as all the rest were commonly called before Whether this device doth any good to Christs Church that Bishopps are become rather of custome as Ierome saith than upon any truth of the Lords appoyntment greater then the Priests it is better declared in these latter times then when this custome was first taken up which we may thanke for all the pride wealth and tyrannie of the Princly and riding Bishops yea for the corruption of all Churches which if Ierome sawe no doubt he would acknowledge it to be not the device of the holy Ghost to take away schismes 〈◊〉 it was pretended to be but of Sathan himselfe to decaie and destroy the old Ministerie in feeding the Lords flocke Whence it is come that the Church hath not true Pastors Doctors and Elders or Bishops but under the couller of these names we haue idle bellies magnificall Princes Beza in Phil cap. 1. 1 Wherevnto I ad also the words of M. Beza upon the first chapter to
not to feede the flocke but to kill and devoure it It was not possible that Barnard in those blinde dayes who was himselfe so blinde in many other things could so plainly haue seene this if the thing it selfe had not been as playne as a packe staffe And it is worthy to be noted that he saith Inde est quod illa pauper et inops et nuda relinquitur facie miseranda etc. Heerof saith Barnard even of the great riches great livynges and high estate of the Prelats the Spouse of Christ that is the Church of God becommeth so poore needy and naked with such a withered and miserable face For he could not complayne in the middest of popery that their temples lacked were not garnished with Surplices Vestiments silke glistering in gold and glory like the firmament pouderd with bright starres and the full Moone in the midest of the night But his complaynt was that the Lord Bishops and other the great Prelats by the devise and consent of Antichrist the Pope and of the Kings and Princes which were become his vassalls slaues had gotten into their hands the livings that belonged to the Pastors preachers of the word of God And thereupon lived like Lords accounting the parish Ministers single sole Sir Iohns and hedg preists who being robbed and spoyled of their maintenance left themselues the Church without all the divine spirituall ornamēts which Christ her Bridegrome at the first had given her and appoynted by his word commaundement to haue her adorned garnished withall to the end of the world Namely 〈…〉 with learned preachers graue and discreat Elders and faithfull distributyng Deacons the one sorte with all dilligence to attend vpon the word and doctrine and continually to feed the Church with bread of life the other to attend with the former upon the Discipline and to see that no man giue over himselfe to leaudnes of life And the third distributyng the almes of the Church unto the poore to procure sufficient sustenance for them to see them liue in such order as they ought to doe and this is to beautifie adorne and garnish the Church of Christ But contrarywise that a few proud Prelats and Lord Bishops should take the goods of many Churches vnto them selues and liue therevpon like Lords and magnificent princes whereby the spouse of Christ is vtterly destitute of the functions and offices which Christ her bridegrome had appoynted unto her This is as Barnard saith not to beautifie her but to rob and spoyle her and to make a whore of her For the offices appoynted by God whereby she should be governed being taken from her and she by nature being given to spirituall whordōe following her naturall disposition embraced the inventions of men and the Idolatrous superstitions which Antichrist and his wife the great whore of Babell vsed And this is as Barnard saith not to feed the flocke but mactare et devorare to kill and to devoure it 〈…〉 And therefore in another place he saith Vae generationi huic a fermento Phariseorum quod est hypocrisis si tamen hypocrisis dici debet quae iam latêre praeabūdantiâ non valet et praeimpudentia non querit etc. Woe be to this generation saith Barnard for the leaven of the Pharises which is hipocrisie yet if it may be called hipocrisie which can no longer be hidden for the very a boundance therof nor yet seeketh to be covered for the very impudency of them that use it Ministri Christi sunt et serviunt Antichristo c. They be the Ministers of Christ and yet they serue Antichrist Inde splendidae mensae et cibis et ciphis c. And by serving this good master thēe saith Barnard commeth their tables so sumptuously decked both with meates and cuppes And to set forth their shamelesse impudency a non after he saith Pro huiusmodi volunt esse et sunt Ecclesiarū praepositi Decani Episcopi Archiepiscopi For such manner of fellowes they would be coūted and such are indeed the Prelats the Deanes the Bishops and Arcbishops And therfore in his epistle to one that would be made an Archbishop to teach him to liue like a Bishop and not like a Lord he saith lib. ep D. Bar ep 2 Tom. 2 Conceditur ergo tibi vt si bene deservis de altario viuas non autem vt de altario luxvrieris ut de altario superbias vt inde compares tibi fraena aurea sellas depictas calcaria de argentaria varia griseaque pellicia a collo et manibus ornatu purpureo diversificata Denique quicquid preter necessarium victum ac simplicem vestitum de altario retines tuum non est rapina est sacrilegium est It is therfore granted vnto thee that if thou serue wel thou shouldest liue of the Alter But not that thou shouldest liue voluptuously of the Alter that thou shouldest wax proud of the Alter that thou shouldest get thy selfe gilted bridles wrought saddles silvered spurres divers sorts of furrs and graie furres made with variety of purple garnishmēt at the coller and hands To conclude whatsoever thinge from the Alter thou doest retayne besides a needfull lyving and simple clothing it is not thyne it is playne theft and Church robbery Thus you see though Barnard saw not all yet he saw that the Lordship of Bishopes was ough for the Church of God a good Preacher often turned out of his place for not useing a beggerly ceremony To conclude then the holy regiment of the Churches of Christ standing in the simplicity and playnens of Pastors Elders Deacons began utterly to be defaced the little sparke Papa brake forth which at the first stuck but as a small spot upon the forhead of the Bishop no man thinking it to be any bleamish not knowing from whence it came nor whervnto the old serpent called the Deuill and Satan meant to bring it Now this monstrous regiment takinge place and the regiment appointed by Christ and his Apostles restyng cheifly in spirituall excellency the glory wherof could not be seene with outward fleshly eyes beyng counted for the simplicity plaines thereof to base a regiment for the glorious strumpet she tooke into her handes her paire of bellowes of pride and ambition and never left blowyng with all her might and maine upon the litle sparke Papa aforesaid till it grew to a flame that reached up to heaven in which infernall flame the great Papa himselfe sheweth forth his face Takyng that name to himselfe only as being from the beginnyng thereof appoynted unto him by the old serpent Sathan his father And as beyng now of full age he himselfe alōe would weare it though in his minority other were permitted to use it Now this great Antichrist Papa the Pope raigneth florisheth exaltyng himselfe against all that is called God or that is worshiped so as he doth sit as God in the Temple of God The
Mary layd such violent handes upon the graft that she pulled it clean out of the stock cast it into the fire Our late gratious Queene Elizabeth receaved frō heaven a graft agayne and set it into the stock which by the blessing of God grew flourished but the boughes and sients which King Edward left shee suffered still to grow As the pompous estate of Bishops with the abominations of pluralities and Nonresidencies and such like with divers bad and beggerly Ceremonies which all remaine to this day O that our Prelats of England would lift up their eyes to heaven and behold the wrath of God which as Gualter saith hangeth over our heads for these reliques of Antichrist and other our sinfull wickednes then would they surely be so farr from mainteinyng the same or perswading his Majestie to let them continue that humblie one their knees they would beseech him though all their wealth and pompe should perish yet with his mightie hand to rent of the crabb tree scients and with the sharp sword to cut of the boughes that grow upon the stocke whereby the blessed graft of Gods word might liuely grow and flourish which exceept it be donne can never prosper nor as the Apostle speaketh can never haue free pastage be glorified And it is worthy to be noted that to his great honor it is written Iosiah also tooke away them that had familiar spirits and the Soothsayers and the Images 2 Kings 2 ◠24. and the Idols and all the abominations that were espied in the land of Iudah and Ierusalem to performe the words of the law which were written in the booke that Hilkiah the Priest found in the house of the Lord. But this is to be observed in his most excellent reformation that the text sayth he tooke away all the abominations that were espied in the land of Iudah and Ierusalem For where very great defection and falling away from true religion is established by publicke authoritie it is a merveilous difficult matter for a Prince that would make reformation therof to espie whatsoever ought to be reformed So that if there be not daylie more and more amended the sients of the crabb tree stock being suffered will out grow the graft and spoyle the tree as we see in this most excellent reformation which Iosiah made which yet is so bitterly taxed not only by Zephaniah the Prophet but also by Ieremia as you may read in the third chapter where he sayth The Lord sayd also unto me Ier. 3.6.7.8 in the dayes of Iosiah the King hast thou seene what this rebell Israell hath done For shee hath gone up upon every high mountaine and under every greene tree and there playd the harlot And I said when shee had done all this Turne thou unto me but shee returned not as her rebellious sister Iudah saw When I saw that by all occasions rebellious Israell had playd the harlot I cast her away and gaue her a bill of divorcement yet her rebellious sister Iudah was not affraid but she went also and playd the harlot And afterward in the 10 and 11 verses he sheweth how high the abominations of Iudah even in the time of Iosiah were growne Neverthelesse saith Ieremiah for all this her from them as well as of Monks Thirdly that many that doe professe the Gospell handle the matter as ill as the Monks and Popish Bishops In that they restore not agayne to the Church and Congregation the libertie of choosing their Ministers which by tyrannie they tooke from them ruling the matter by their Lordly estate as they list themselues Fourthly that this evill also shortly if it be not amended will bring into the Churches that professe the Gospell both Symonie the utter confusion of Discipline And after in the same Homilie he saith Whosoever would haue in the Church the auncient authority of Discipline and the boldnes of the Prophets Apostles in the Ministery and to be short the old integritie and soundnes of the whole Church let him labour to recover and call agayne this auncient order of choosing Ministers shewed to us by the Apostles Note Obserue christian reader that whosoever wisheth to haue the old integritie and soūdnes of the whole Church ought to labor in his degree asmuch as in him lyeth to recover and call agayne this auncient order of choosing Ministers shewed us by the Apostles in Acts 15 22. Homilie 104. that is with the Churches free consent But in another Homilie he sayth Through the covetousnes and ambition of Bishops it is come to passe that the libertie of the Church is troden under foote and choosing of Ministers dependeth upon them O wicked wretchednes of those Biships which doe not onely heerein through their covetousnes and ambition offend Christ and rob his Churches of their right but also with great crueltie and bould faces maintayne the same to be well done and purpose to continue therein to their liues end And of the choosing of Deacons likewise upon the sixt chapter Hom. 41. he saith Therefore the chosing of Deacons to whom the administration of the Church goods is committed belongeth to all the Church But afterward upon the 15 chapter he saith Hom. 104. Now where the ambition of Prelats hath disturbed and broken this order who contrary to the commandement of Peter the Apostle haue challenged unto them a Lordship over the inheritance or Church of Christ the Congregations are every day molested with new contentions and there appeareth no end either of errors or most bitter debates I think verely M. Gualter in these words poynted with his finger specially to England for no Nation of christendom that is called a reformed Church or had the Gospel once shinyng in at the windowe hath had or is like to haue such endless contention and continuall errors only through the Lordship and magnificent estate of Lord Bishops Hom. 86 which no reformed Church in all Europe hath retained but England And upon the 13 chapter he sayth We must iudge them called of God that are furnished with necessary gifts of the holy Ghost and chosen by the voyce of the lawfull Congregation for that the Church hath heerein her voice election appeareth plainely by this place And likewise in the 1 chapter Homelie the 9. he sayth And the holy Ghost would haue all this historie so dilligently described for that a sure rule and president might be left to them that came after whereby to rule the election of Ministers And touching the dignitie and superioritie of Ministers one over an other he sayth in Acts 20 Hom. 133 Although the dignitie of all Ministers in the Church is a like and none ought to challenge power or authoritie over other yet an order is necessary in the Church which can never be kept and mainteyned except Ministers will obserue modestie and humilitie among themselues And in the 8 Homelie about the chosing of Mathias he saith First Peter will